Novartis gets US Contract for Cell-Based Flu Vaccine Plant

January 15, 2009 by Robert Roos CIDRAP

The US government has awarded Novartis a $487 million contract to help build a plant in North Carolina that the company says will be capable of producing 150 million doses of cell-based pandemic influenza vaccine within 6 months after the start of a pandemic.

The facility, which Novartis said is already under construction in Holly Springs, N.C., also will make prepandemic flu vaccines, HHS said. The contract calls for HHS and Novartis to share the cost of the facility, with HHS providing 40% and the company paying 60%.